{"id":159728,"date":"2025-07-10T02:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T02:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/159728\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T02:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T02:41:11","slug":"pacers-sign-rookie-kam-jones-to-unique-four-year-standard-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/159728\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers Sign Rookie Kam Jones To Unique Four-Year Standard Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Providence<\/p>\n

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 25: Kam Jones #1 of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts after a play … More against the Providence Friars during the second half at Fiserv Forum on February 25, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 Kam Jones has signed his first professional contract, inking a four-year deal with the Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n

Jones, a rookie that the Pacers acquried via a draft trade with the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, was the 38th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Indiana wanted a selection early in the second round for multiple reasons \u2013 the keys ones being that the team didn\u2019t have a first-round pick after a mid-June trade<\/a> and the roster projected to be expensive while selections in the 30s end up being cheaper contributors.<\/p>\n

Why did the Pacers sign and draft Kam Jones?<\/p>\n

With all of that at play, the Pacers acquired Jones<\/a>. The guard spent four years at Marquette, where he played both on and off the ball during different seasons. As a senior, he averaged 19.2 points and 5.9 assists per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough kid. Loves the gym, lives for the gym. I like the fact that he played (positions) two and one. He was a two guard the year before, then a point guard,\u201d Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said of Jones. \u201cBut if you ever get around him, he reminds me of, personlity wise, [Tyrese Haliburton]<\/p>\n

. He\u2019s hyper positive. He\u2019s watching from the sidelines, and he\u2019s got that kind of an it factor of \u2018that\u2019s a Pacer\u2019. Once you see a Pacer, I can tell that guys a Pacer. He\u2019s a big-time worker. We\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones has been practicing with his new team ahead of summer league this week. He, along with returning Pacers RayJ Dennis and Quenton Jackson, project to get a big dose of ball handling reps. That should benefit Jones, who can succeed at multiple positions.<\/p>\n

He has experience next to NBA-level creators. Jones spent three seasons playing next to now-New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek, one of the best passers in college basketball across the last few seasons. Jones shot better from three-point range those seasons \u2013 he is prepared for off-ball responsibilities, but he can be a creator himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great to just be dynamic. It adds a layer to his game and to the team,\u201d Pacers summer league head coach Isaac Yacob said of Jones\u2019 versatility.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to have the ball in my hands really gave me a bunch of reps being at point guard. It really helped me game. Being a little flexibile, can do either\/or,\u201d Jones added of those roles.<\/p>\n

What kind of contract did the Pacers sign Jones to?<\/p>\n

The skill and versatility combination attracted the Pacers to Jones. The team put their money where their mouth is earlier this week, signing Jones to a standard contract. It\u2019s a multi-year agreement that became possible because of the second-round pick exception.<\/p>\n

The contract is only fully guaranteed in the first season, and that year comes in at the NBA\u2019s rookie minimum value \u2013 just under $1.3 million. The second season of the deal is also as low as it could possibly be in terms of base salary, then the third and fourth years come at a standard value because of the exception used to sign Jones.<\/p>\n

Marquette’s Kam Jones during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Seton Hall … More Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Morry Gash)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

In total, the four-year agreement comes with a maximum total value of about $8.7 million<\/a>. The second season of the contract is partially guaranteed, then the last two years and filled with options and non-guaranteed money. It\u2019s a rare deal in that not a ton of guaranteed money has been committed by the Pacers for a player on a four-year standard deal.<\/p>\n

In fact, Jones is top 2025 draft pick who didn\u2019t get the first two years of his contract fully guaranteed. Every first-round pick earns a rookie-scale contract, and the first two seasons of those agreements are guaranteed by default. Second-round picks don\u2019t have to be, but selections 31 through 37 all received fully guaratneed money across the first two seasons of their deal, according to various reports. Jones only has one fully guaranteed season, and his contract comes with only $2.3 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Of course, Jones could make much more than that. If he plays well \u2013 and the Pacers clearly believe he can or they woudn\u2019t have picked him \u2013 he could make up to the full $8.7 million. But he has about $1 million less guaranteed to him than the seven players picked in the second round above him. It\u2019s a good deal for the Pacers.<\/p>\n

Part of the appeal of Jones for the Pacers was the rookie minimum being lower than the veteran\u2019s minimum. When Indiana was projecting to be a luxury tax team \u2013 prior to Myles Turner\u2019s departure \u2013 those smaller deals would have been helpful. They still will be, of course, but in a different way. The Pacers have more flexibility to use salary cap exceptions this season with Jones on a smaller contract.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll make his debut for the blue and gold during summer league play in Las Vegas. \u201cI\u2019m impressed with, he fits in with the group well,\u201d Yacob said. \u201cBasketball IQ, he\u2019s been able to pick things up and retain it and implement it into live play very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, 23, is presently dealing with a hamstring injury that Pritchard outlined earlier this week. But the team is excited about him, and they were able to both draft him and secure his services on a team-friendly deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m right where I want to be man,\u201d Jones said of being with the Pacers. \u201cI think I\u2019m the epitome of that. Just being with a team, being with a group of guys that just want to win and put their teammates before themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 25: Kam Jones #1 of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts after a play ……\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,4233,6,12,3269,114,26593],"class_list":{"0":"post-159728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-kam-jones","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-draft","15":"tag-nba-free-agency","16":"tag-pacers","17":"tag-pacers-free-agency"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114826634002915233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}